This invention relates to folding tool beams for attaching ground-working implements behind tractors in either working positions or transporting positions, and particularly to tool beams to which are attached hitches that include lifting means for raising implements, the beams being rotatable about pivots while the implements are raised until the beams are in a longitudinal, trailing position for transportation.
A common example of decreasing the width of ground working implements for transportation is the folding of end wing portions of disc harrows upwardly about horizontal axes of pivots at the ends of transverse central portions. In a different arrangement for disc harrows shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,743 issued to Harold K. Garrison on Sept. 23, 1980, wheels are lowered hydraulically to raise discs from the ground, and tool beams for the discs are rotated about separated respective pivots to a trailing position. A relatively narrow disc assembly trails between the pivots and is raised for transportation.
These prior tool beams are generally adapted to implements of only one type and are not variable in width. The tool beams that folds upwardly may not be suitable for implements, such as planters, having containers for fluid materials, and additional stress in the folded position requires tool beams of greater than usual strength.